Not Everything Is as It Seems: How Life Roles Shape Us and How Others Perceive Us

Each of us plays different roles in life—sometimes you're the hero, sometimes the villain, and sometimes it's hard to tell who you really are. Imagine you're an actor and your biggest success is a role as a sinister villain in a cult film. When you're walking down the street, someone suddenly shouts at you, "How dare you show yourself out there?" It's absurd, isn't it? After all, it's just a role you took on as part of a bigger story.

A Story That's More Than Just a Single Scene

Life is like a movie with many scenes. Each of us goes through different phases, and the chapters of our story are constantly changing. When people see only one scene, they may create a distorted image. It's like reading one page of a book and judging the entire story based on that. It sounds nonsensical, right? One page doesn't really tell us much.

Imagine every day you find yourself on a stage where people only see a small part of your life and judge you based on what they see. Maybe someone will label you as "the bad guy," but what's behind that one moment? What have you experienced, what have you learned, and how have you changed? No one sees that. You might do a thousand things right, but if you do one wrong thing, what do most people focus on? Of course, the "negative." What a surprise, right?

Life as a Book Full of Stories

Your life is like a book with many chapters. Each chapter is unique—some are full of tension, others are calm and reflective. When someone reads just one page, they can't understand the whole story. What happens between the chapters often creates the true picture of your life.

No matter what part of your story people focus on, it's important to realize that each chapter contributes to the overall picture. It's like reading a book and continuously discovering new aspects of the main character that surprise and often inspire us.

Inner Work and Acceptance

How others see us can be influenced by their own prejudices, experiences, and perspectives. However, there's no need to try to convince others of who we really are. The biggest work we need to do is within ourselves. Accepting ourselves and coming to terms with what we've experienced is the key to inner peace.

Imagine that each of us has an internal "script" that we need to understand and accept. Instead of trying to change how others perceive us, let's focus on how we feel about ourselves. Our own perception is what influences our true well-being.

New Beginnings and Deeper Awareness

When we focus on our own growth and self-awareness, we open the door to deeper understanding. Our past, no matter what it was, is only one part of a larger story. True change comes when we learn to accept our complete experience and acknowledge that we are more than the sum of our past chapters.

Each of us has the ability to change and influence our story and its direction. How others see us is often the result of their own projections and incomplete understanding. Often, we simply reflect something they haven't processed or something they struggle with themselves. True strength lies in our ability to trust ourselves, knowing who we are regardless of how others judge us.

Instead of being preoccupied with constant judgments and evaluations from others, let's focus on how we live in the present and how we can create a better future. Our true value is not determined by others' opinions, but by how we accept and love our own story.

Quick Thought for the End:

People often want to keep you in the box they've placed you in. When you start to step out of their box, they may not like it. They don't like that it doesn't affect you as much and that they're the ones losing energy over it. It's an uncomfortable reflection for them that they're either avoiding dealing with their own lives or really have nothing better to do—which is the sadder variant. Never let yourself be influenced or discouraged by what others think of you. If you know you have a good heart and don't care about what those who don't know you say, then it doesn't matter what they think.

Program your mind with your own beliefs and picture yourself as a deaf frog—I'll explain. A friend told me a story about a deaf frog yesterday, and now I'm passing it on to you. Imagine four frogs trying to climb to the top of a mountain. Frog number one tries to climb but hears from below, "Wow, that's high; it can't make it." And it falls because its mind was influenced by others' fears and prejudices. The same happens with frog number two and frog number three.

Then comes frog number four. It climbs, is halfway up, and hears from below, "She can't do it, it's too high. She doesn't have what it takes. She can't make it." And you know what? The frog keeps climbing higher and higher until she reach the top. The frog comes down and reporters want to ask a few questions. They ask, "How did you do it?" And only then do they realize that the frog is deaf. That's why she wasn't affected by anything going on around her, nor by what others said, because she couldn't hear it.

And that's the key to success.